PM/AM: Apple's New Beats

Welcome to PM/AM, Popular Mechanics' morning briefing on the top science and tech stories for today.

According to the Financial Times, Apple as made a $3.2 billion acquisition deal with Beats Electronics. Along with its headphone, earbud, and speaker hardware, Apple will also gain control of Beat's recently launched streaming service, and all senior executives will report directly to CEO Tim Cook. This would be Apple's biggest purchase and signals a change in thinking at the company. Up until this point, Apple's hardware was completely internal, and now it seems that they're reaching out for help, much like Google and Facebook, to create a more dynamic portfolio.

Rival handset maker HTC used to have controlling stake in Beats Electronics until it sold off its share while it watched its own smartphone business collapse. Now bolstered by the impressive HTC One, the company could have significantly benefitted from the deal.

It's unclear what Apple is interested in more—the hardware or streaming software. Apple has its own music service of course, most notably iTunes Radio, but an iTunes-powered streaming service could be just thing to send Beats Music (which will most likely be rebranded) from underdog to top contender. Reportedly Apple's big-ticket purchase will be announced within the week.

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In other Apple news, on the eve of Apple's biggest acquisition, the company's PR maven Katie Cotton resigns. Although many in the tech field applaud her genius use of "anti-PR," not everyone loved Cotton's silent reign. [via href='http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/05/08/310787094/anti-aging-hormone-could-make-you-smarter' target='_blank">NPR

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